As EV motorcycle development pace continues at a glacial rate, the industry continues its pivot towards alt-fuels. These days, the focus seems to be on hydrogen—Kawasaki just showed off a hydrogen-fueled hyperbike, and now we see new reports of a hydrogen-fueled Suzuki Burgman project.
If you’ve been here a while—a long while—you might remember that Suzuki actually researched a hydrogen Burgman back in 2017. At that time, they built a few hydrogen-powered scoots for the Metropolitan Police to use in the UK. After that trial ended, we didn’t really hear much about its success or lack thereof, and it looked like Suzuki was pivoting towards battery bikes instead—especially when it started working on an electric scooter after it pulled out of MotoGP.
Well, the industry is currently pivoting towards hydrogen, with some prominent insiders saying battery tech still isn’t good enough to suffice for higher-powered motorcycles. With this in the background, Suzuki is continuing work on adapting its Burgman platform towards this alt-fuel. Ben Purvis, the world’s most prolific moto-spy, has patent images showing the design’s progression published at Cycle World.
What’s new? The latest updates Purvis uncovered relate to the hydrogen storage system. Previous designs had a single large, bulky tank that stretched fore-to-aft. This meant a longer wheelbase, which negatively affected handling.
The new design uses multiple tanks to make for a more compact chassis. One is under the seat, the other is in front of the engine like the previous design, but it’s smaller. Purvis says the previous design required the Burgman 400 chassis be stretched by 8 inches, but this design allows the hydrogen fuel system to fit into a standard Burgman 400 platform. Not only does that improve handling, it probably saves Suzuki money as well, due to their love of parts bin engineering…
